Occult

==Occultism==
[[File:Eliphas Levi.png|thumb|left|upright|The French esotericist [[Éliphas Lévi]] popularised the term "occultism" in the 1850s. His reinterpretation of traditional esoteric ideas has led to him being called the origin of "the occultist current properly so-called".{{sfn|Faivre|1994|p=88}}]]
In the English-speaking world, notable figures in the development of occultism included Helena Blavatsky and other figures associated with her Theosophical Society, senior figures in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn like [[William Wynn Westcott]] and [[Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers]], as well as other individuals such as [[Paschal Beverly Randolph]], [[Emma Hardinge Britten]], [[Arthur Edward Waite]], and{{snd}}in the early twentieth century{{snd}}[[Aleister Crowley]], [[Dion Fortune]], and [[Israel Regardie]].{{sfn|Pasi|2006|p=1365}} By the end of the nineteenth century, occultist ideas had also spread into other parts of Europe, such as the [[German Empire]], [[Austria-Hungary]], and the [[Kingdom of Italy]].{{sfn|Pasi|2006|pp=1365–1366}}

Unlike older forms of esotericism, occultism does not necessarily reject "scientific progress or modernity".{{sfnm|1a1=Faivre|1y=1994|1p=88|2a1=Goodrick-Clarke|2y=2008|2p=196}} Lévi had stressed the need to solve the conflict between science and religion, something that he believed could be achieved by turning to what he thought was the ancient wisdom found in magic.{{sfn|Pasi|2006|p=1366}} The French scholar of Western esotericism [[Antoine Faivre]] noted that rather than outright accepting "the triumph of scientism", occultists sought "an alternative solution", trying to integrate "scientific progress or modernity" with "a global vision that will serve to make the vacuousness of materialism more apparent".{{sfn|Faivre|1994|p=88}} The Dutch scholar of hermeticism [[Wouter Hanegraaff]] remarked that occultism was "essentially an attempt to adapt esotericism" to the "[[Disenchantment|disenchanted world]]", a post-Enlightenment society in which growing scientific discovery had eradicated the "dimension of irreducible mystery" previously present. In doing so, he noted, occultism distanced itself from the "traditional esotericism" which accepted the premise of an "enchanted" world.{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=423}} According to the British historian of Western esotericism [[Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke]], occultist groups typically seek "proofs and demonstrations by recourse to scientific tests or terminology".{{sfn|Goodrick-Clarke|2008|p=196}}

In his work about Lévi, the German historian of religion Julian Strube has argued that the occultist wish for a "synthesis" of religion, science, and philosophy directly resulted from the context of [[Utopian socialism|contemporary socialism]] and [[Félicité de La Mennais|progressive Catholicism]].{{sfn|Strube|2016a}} Similar to spiritualism, but in declared opposition to it, the emergence of occultism should thus be seen within the context of radical social reform, which was often concerned with establishing new forms of "scientific religion" while at the same time propagating the revival of an ancient tradition of "true religion".{{sfn|Strube|2016b}} Indeed, the emergence of both modern esotericism and socialism in [[July Monarchy]] France have been inherently intertwined.{{sfn|Strube2017b}}

Another feature of occultists is that{{snd}}unlike earlier esotericists{{snd}}they often openly distanced themselves from Christianity, in some cases (like that of Crowley) even adopting explicitly [[anti-Christian]] stances.{{sfn|Pasi|2006|p=1366}} This reflected how pervasive the influence of [[secularisation]] had been on all areas of European society.{{sfn|Pasi|2006|p=1366}} In rejecting Christianity, these occultists sometimes turned towards pre-Christian belief systems and embraced forms of [[Modern Paganism]], while others instead took influence from the religions of Asia, such as [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]]. In various cases, certain occultists did both.{{sfn|Pasi|2006|p=1366}} Another characteristic of these occultists was the emphasis that they placed on "the spiritual realization of the individual", an idea that would strongly influence the twentieth-century New Age and [[Human Potential Movement]].{{sfn|Pasi|2006|p=1366}} This spiritual realization was encouraged both through traditional Western 'occult sciences' like alchemy and [[ceremonial magic]], but by the start of the twentieth century had also begun to include practices drawn from non-Western contexts, such as [[yoga]].{{sfn|Pasi|2006|p=1366}}

Although occultism is distinguished from earlier forms of esotericism, many occultists have also been involved in older esoteric currents. For instance, occultists like [[François-Charles Barlet]] and [[Rudolf Steiner]] were also [[Christian theosophy|theosophers]],{{efn|This theosophy, which is a Christian esoteric tradition adhered to by theosophers, is a distinct movement from Theosophy, the occultist religion adhered to by Theosophists, despite the shared name.}} adhering to the ideas of the early modern Lutheran thinker [[Jakob Bohme]], and seeking to integrate ideas from Bohmian theosophy and occultism.{{sfn|Faivre|1994|p=89}} It has been noted, however, that this distancing from the Theosophical Society should be understood in the light of polemical identity formations amongst esotericists towards the end of the nineteenth century.{{sfn|Strube|2017a|}}

===Etic uses of the term===
[[File:Wouter Hanegraaff 2006 Alchemy Conference.jpg|thumb|right|In the 1990s, the Dutch scholar Wouter Hanegraaff put forward a new definition of ''occultism'' for scholarly uses.]]
{{See also|Emic and etic}}
In the mid-1990s, a new definition of "occultism" was put forth by Wouter Hanegraaff.{{sfn|Pasi|2006|pp=1367–1368}} According to Hanegraaff, the term ''occultism'' can be used not only for the nineteenth-century groups which openly self-described using that term but can also be used in reference to "the ''type'' of esotericism that they represent".{{sfn|Hanegraaff|2006|p=888}}

Seeking to define occultism so that the term would be suitable "as an [[etic]] category" for scholars, Hanegraaff devised the following definition: "a category in the study of religions, which comprises "all attempts by esotericists to come to terms with a disenchanted world or, alternatively, by people in general to make sense of esotericism from the perspective of a disenchanted secular world".{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=422}} Hanegraaff noted that this etic usage of the term would be independent of [[emic]] usages of the term employed by occultists and other esotericists themselves.{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=422}}

In this definition, occultism covers many esoteric currents that have developed from the mid-nineteenth century onward, including Spiritualism, Theosophy, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the New Age.{{sfn|Hanegraaff|2006|p=888}} Employing this etic understanding of "occultism", Hanegraaff argued that its development could begin to be seen in the work of the Swedish esotericist [[Emanuel Swedenborg]] and in the [[Mesmerism|Mesmerist]] movement of the eighteenth century, although added that occultism only emerged in "fully-developed form" as Spiritualism, a movement that developed in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century.{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=423}}

Marco Pasi suggested that the use of Hanegraaff's definition might cause confusion by presenting a group of nineteenth-century esotericists who called themselves "occultists" as just one part of a broader category of esotericists whom scholars would call "occultists".{{sfn|Pasi|2006|p=1368}}

Following these discussions, Julian Strube argued that Lévi and other contemporary authors who would now be regarded as esotericists developed their ideas not against the background of an esoteric tradition in the first place. Rather, Lévi's notion of occultism emerged in the context of highly influential radical socialist movements and widespread progressive, so-called neo-Catholic ideas.{{sfn|Strube|2016a|pp=373–379}} This further complicates Hanegraaff's characteristics of occultism, since, throughout the nineteenth century, they apply to these reformist movements rather than to a supposed group of esotericists.{{sfn|Strube|2017b|pp=218–221}}